Brigitte Waisberg

Brigitte Waisberg was born in Paris, France and came to Canada when she was three years old. She grew up in Toronto, in a neighborhood where many recent immigrants from across Europe had settled. From her exposure to many cultures and languages, she developed a lifelong interest in both.

Her favorite activity growing up was a weekly trip to the library where she took out as many books as she could. Once she had outgrown picture books, she started into the classics. Among her best-loved titles were Jane Eyre, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and A Tale of Two Cities.

In high school, Brigitte loved learning languages, winning the prize in Latin, German, and French the year she graduated. Not surprisingly, she went on to study French and Italian at the University of Toronto. After graduation, she spent a year teaching English in a middle school in Caen, France.

On her return, she started teaching English as a Second Language to adults, then spent a year teaching high school French in London, Ontario. She returned to Toronto, where she again taught ESL, but a chance conversation with a co-worker led her to an interview at Scholastic Canada for the position of editor of the newly-created French book club, Arc-en-ciel. She ended up spending sixteen years at Scholastic, rising through the ranks to become Director of Sales and Marketing.

Brigitte then moved to Kids Can Press where she was hired to launch the company into the U.S. She enjoyed the challenge and successfully established KCP as a well-known and respected brand south of the border.

While the Big Kid Books are the first she has written, she has also translated several books from French to English. Among them, The Biggest Poutine in the World (2016) by Andrée Poulin won the 2017 Silver Birch Express Award.

Brigitte enjoys many different activities including travelling, painting, tai chi, and, of course, reading. She has three grown sons who seem to have inherited her love of different cultures. While one lives in Toronto, the other two have made Japan and Australia their homes. Brigitte lives in Toronto with her little white Maltese, Zola, named after her favorite French author.